However, you should be ecstatic. Quality TV like 'Friday Night Lights' deserves to be given its due and given the time to complete the stories it's been telling.

So, you can count on the Dillon football teams to mature with new players, the Taylor family to deal with Julie's impending leaving for college while Eric and Tami make it work back home, the Riggins men to face upheaval and a bunch of new characters to continue to fascinate, including Becky, Vince, Jess and Luke.

(S04E12) Facing the Lions, Coach Taylor said the word of the week was focus. He was wrong. The word of the week was choice. Everybody seemed to be facing impossible choices.

Bigger than right or wrong, yes or no, play or don't play. In this penultimate episode of 'Friday Night Lights,' the problems were everywhere, but solutions -- unfortunately -- were hard to come by. More on the big game, toothpicks, apologies and Habitat for Humanities after the jump.

(S04E11) This was a rough episode of Friday Night Lights, filled with frustrating actions, characters doing things that make you want to yell at the screen, situations that shouldn't be happening at all. But this is Dillon, Texas and there's a world of drama going on even in a town seemingly as mundane as this one. It's not really just about football. It's about life.

(S04E10) There were some major developments in this episode of Friday Night Lights, especially among the younger set. And if you think life is just peachy keen for kids in high school, they aren't the ones attending East Dillon High. If you prefer the lighter, sweeter side of Friday Night Lights, this wasn't your night. Sadness was at every turn, none moreso that Becky and Vince and their very tough decisions.

(S04E08) Dreams. Tami and Eric have big dreams for Julie as she prepares to go to college. Tim Riggins has been dreaming of what he would do some day with 25 acres of Texas real estate. Luke's worried that his dream of getting a scholarship out of of Dillon is slipping away. And Buddy, well, he just wants to have football pride for the Lions like he did for his dream team, the Panthers. More on all that and more Friday Night Lights after the jump.

(S04E07)Friday Night Lights is a show that's as much about subtle touches as it is about bone-crunching hits on the football field. This episode was all about pain, but not just the kind that requires a doctor's touch. Julie felt it, as did Landry, Becky, Vince and Tim in their own ways.

For a change of pace, Tami wasn't getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop, and for Coach Taylor, things were looking up even though the sheriff was snooping around the locker of one of his players. And if you're wondering what happened after Matt left Dillon last week, read on.

(S04E05) When you see an episode like this one, you feel bad that Friday Night Lights has been flying under the radar when it comes to Emmy consideration. The performance by Zach Gilford as Matt was the best I've seen on TV since Aaron Paul blew me away with Breaking Bad last summer. Hopefully someone will remember him next year when it's Emmy time, and this is the show that could win it for him. He was just that good. More after the jump on Matt, Vince, Becky and the other Dillon denizens.

(S04E04) Life is what happens while you're busy making plans. Matt hasn't exactly been the architect of his future, but the Dillon former quarterback has been plugging along. This week found Saracen in the cross hairs emotionally. The Taylors, meanwhile, continue to struggle through the professional turmoil, and the younger set in Dillon has definite issues -- some good, some not-so-good.

Then there's Buddy Garrity. If he's not a Panther anymore, and he denounced his identity with the West Dillon team last week, what is he? As he told Eric, the beauty of boosterism is that it comes from the heart. Where's Buddy's heart now? More on that and the rest, after the jump.

(S04E03) There's so much that's right about Friday Night Lights this new season that it probably sounds like I'm overdoing it with the positive notices. However, the way they've shaken up Eric and Tami's life together in Dillon has been terrific.

The gerrymandering for the town, sending Eric to coach a poor school with a tattered football squad is inspired storytelling. And Tami's not in a better place back at West Dillon because she sent Luke Cafferty to East Dillon, the school he was supposed to be attending. The Boosters are not happy with Tami. Eric's not sleeping. What's going to happen now?

(S04E02) In case you think the Coach Eric Taylor has all the answers, this episode shows that's not always the way it is. In last week's show, the East Dillon Lions were so awful, Coach couldn't take it. He threw in the towel, which is a boxing term, but by forfeiting the game at half-time, that's what he did in football terms.

Things were hardly better for Tami at Dillon, although by comparison, her school looks like paradise. Eric's on the other side of paradise. More about that and the rest of the players, on field and off, after the jump.

Entering into its fourth season (and second since the NBC/DirecTV deal), Friday Night Lights is a show in transition on numerous levels. The high school football drama returns tonight to DirecTV's 101 Network at 9 p.m. ET (NBC won't air this season until next summer) and for fans of the show, it's an episode they've long been waiting for.

Ever since the season three finale, as Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his wife Tami (Connie Britton) stepped on to the East Dillon Lions decrepit football field, Eric's new home, the tension has been at an all time high in Dillon, Texas. How can Coach Taylor, a man whom many consider to be a high school football wunderkind, start from scratch with a team that doesn't even exist yet?

In a recent interview, Jim was asked about his favorite current show -- other than his own -- and he said it was Friday Night Lights. That's right, the NBC drama series about high school football deep in the heart of Texas! Somehow it's hard to imagine Sheldon in pads and a helmet. Maybe he could be the water boy? Or the genius offensive coordinator.

The best NBC drama currently in production hasn't been doing much to help the Nielsen ratings. That's because the show, Friday Night Lights, isn't being shown on NBC right now. Season three has been unspooling on DirecTV and after eight episodes, the award-winning series is in the midst of a top-notch season.

In fact, after somewhat coming off the rails last season with Landry and Tyra's murder plot, Riggins and Street in Mexico, and Matt's involvement with Grandma's nurse, this year's shows are focused, complex and definitely back on track.

That starts with Tami and Eric. Coach Taylor remains as coiled as ever, only now the pressure to succeed seems even more intense because of the emergence of J.D. McCoy, the phenom freshman quarterback. J.D.'s pushy father and personal quarterback coach tick Eric off, but he likes the kid and has demoted Matt in order to give the more talented player a chance.

(S03E01) If you're fortunate enough to be a DirecTV subscriber, tonight you had the opportunity to see the premiere of Friday Night Lights. The Dillon Panther football team was back, as were all the characters who deal with real world life issues that have nothing to do with the grid iron. The best thing about Friday Night Lights, in fact, is that the show is only set in a sports environment. The drama is much more than who wins or loses a game, and that's what stays with you. There are no easy answers for Eric and Tami, Tyra and Landry, Tim and Lyla. Even Buddy has ambiguities.

That said, NBC will be back with these same Friday Night Light episodes -- season three -- at mid-season. Therefore, for people like me with the DirecTV dish, we're getting the shows in advance. TV Squad has decided to review the season premiere -- including spoilers -- so please, if you want to wait and be surprised, be forewarned. On the other hand, if you want to know what's happened since the end of last season, follow me after the jump.

Are you available Saturday, November 8th? Will you be in Parker, Texas? If the answer to these questions is yes, then maybe you'll head out to Southfork Ranch for a reunion with cast members of the classic CBS mega-hit Dallas. In honor of the 30th anniversary of the primetime soap, several actors from the show -- those still around -- will gather for a huge celebration. J.R. -- Larry Hagman -- will be the unofficial host, with Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) and Bobby (Patrick Duffy) also confirmed. No, this is not a dream. It's a real anniversary get together!

And what's really terrific about this event, if you ask me, is that it's not a private party. You can buy a ticket and take part. Tickets go on sale August 22 and will cost between $100 and $1,000. And for that money there will be a chance to ask questions of the stars, enjoy a concert of country music, tour Southfork and watch a fireworks display. Presumably that will not be a re-enactment of "Who shot J.R.?"